With a bit of plot relevant stuff, this time around.

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Extra: High Fantasy

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"So, uh, Clair and Trevor, right? You two brought your character sheets?" Griff asked with a smile.

Reyson had recently gotten in touch with one of his few college friends, a bear who was an avid fan of Legions and Legends. The wolf had played a couple of campaigns with him and some of his other friends during the latter few years of college, when he had finally started becoming a little more open to interacting with people again. After some catching up over text, Griff had mentioned interest in being the Dungeon Master of a new campaign, and wanted to try starting one up with some fresh people who hadn't played before. Though he didn't expect Clair to be particularly interested in playing some LnL, he decided to ask the cat anyway. That was an exchange:

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"Hey Clair-heard of Legions and Legends?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You ever been interested in playing it?"

"...Hmm, not particularly-role playing has never really been my thing to be honest."

"Mm.. A friend of mine wants to start a campaign. He's looking for a few new players who might want to play."

"Oh, I see-Oh~

...So you want me to play with you?"

"Uh... yes?"

"...Ray, inviting me to try something new with him for the first time!?"

"Well-actually, I've already played befo-"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! I'm always the one dragging you to do stuff with me, so I'd love to get dragged into doing something with you Ray! You uh, you do want me to join you, right?"

"..Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Damn straight it would be! When's it happening?"

"Griff wants to schedule it around a week from now.. oh, we also need at least one more player-got any friends who might be interested in joining as well?"

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And so it was.

The feline and his friend handed over the character sheets that they had completed the day prior, and Griff examined them thoroughly.

"Mm... Vishala Acytus.. Cat species beastman-good choice for a first race, by the way-beastmen are the most versatile race without any huge strengths or weaknesses, so they can spec into pretty much whatever."

"O-Oh, haha, I just wanted to stick to something that was close to what I'm used to though. Vishala is a big buff cat daddy though, unlike me, ehe~"

"Mm, I can definitely see that." the bear mused as he perused Clair's detailed description of Vishala's physical appearance. Reading onward, he took a note of his class and backstory: A warlock who forged a pact with a demon after his family and childhood friends were betrayed by a fickle deity they had once believed in. The demon, claiming to be an enemy of the deity, and promising revenge to a grieving Vishala, tempted the cat into a contract with which he awakened his powers. Griff looked up at Clair with an amused smile on his face. "Hey, this is actually a pretty neat backstory. Sort of standard, but I like the twist where the god is the villain." Clair beamed with joy upon hearing the compliment.

"Thanks! Ray helped me come up with a lot of the more subtle details-I'm not too much of a story writer, haha." Griff smiled at the cat, who was slowly but surely starting to become a bit more comfortable with the idea of role-playing. He then continued to read Trevor's character sheet.

"Gronk Killroy- Human barbarian. On a quest to kill enemies and... slay bussy." Griff set the sheet down for a second and stared at Trevor, who just smiled back with absolute confidence and complete satisfaction. Griff then looked at Reyson, who just gave him a shrug in response. He smiled weakly-if nothing else, it was at least self-evident early on who the agent of chaos was going to be in this group. The human race in LnL was noted as the class of superior strength and endurance, but with very low intelligence. They are a rather primitive race, and while they have gained some second-hand technological advancements from mingling with the other races, their scientific and mechanical progress is far behind that of most of the other races. For better or worse, the class to race spec seemed to check out and have some synergy with the other party members. After processing this second character sheet, he then looked at Ray.

"Oh, right, Reyson-I know you're probably playing as Gray again, but did you create a character sheet with more base-level stats for this play session?" The wolf nodded and handed his friend his own character sheet. His character was a night orc hunter by the name of Siegmaer Gray. Orcs are well known for their high intelligence and wisdom. While these stats generally don't really help when specced into the hunter class, night orcs specifically have perks associated with nature and survival, which does synergize with various Hunter abilities.

With a front-line tank, ranged physical damage dealer, and spellcasting warlock in the group, the team actually managed to form a fairly balanced team composition. After explaining some basic rules for how the game flow would work and passing some dice around to all the players, Griff began weaving the story of the scenario: Gray, Gronk, and Vishala were all making their daily round to the local adventurer's guild in Kazhstan when a mysterious cloaked figure suddenly approached the reception, desperate to place an urgent request. Curious, Gray asked about the request and learned that mysterious events were happening at a local village nearby, causing residents to disappear. Many didn't return, but those who did often had severe memory loss, with others entirely changed personalities. Gray offers to help, moved by the damel's tale. Vishala and Gronk also join the team-Vishala because the symptoms of the victim mimic similar tragedies that befell his friends and family, and Gronk because the desperate figure offered 100 gold pieces for successfully investigating and eliminating the source of the disappearances.

While interactions and play were quite slow at first as Clair and Trevor took time to figure out how their actions worked and how to interact with the people, they quickly grew accustomed to the style of play... maybe a little too accustomed, as once they arrived at the village, Trev... er, Gronk made every effort to flirt with all of the civilians he could talk to, male or female. With his lack of charisma stat, he failed virtually all of the attempts. There was one instance where Trev rolled a natural 20 while trying to seduce a local for information regarding the disappearances, and after extended demands for a narration of the hot steamy action, Griff narrated the experience with the following aside: "Killroy put his peepee into the villager, and they both felt really good." Spicy indeed.

Despite Trevor constantly hitting on people, the one-shot campaign went fairly smoothly-Trevor would recklessly charge into every battle without ever assessing the situation or reinforcements, and Vishala and Gray would provide support fire from a distance while trying to make sure Gronk didn't straight up die instantly. Ray could almost detect a delighted... and even a bit sinister glee when Clair fired his first demon flare which struck 4 low health enemies at once and defeated them all... maybe he was more into this role playing than anyone could have given him credit for.

Eventually, they made it to the end of the campaign, with the epic twist that the cloaked figure was a homunculus created by the big bad to lure unsuspecting and prideful adventurers to the village in question to draw in more victims. The villain was a sorcerer who was drawing the power of memories and mana from the mind in order to further increase his power.

The final showdown commenced, with the homunculus applying debuffs and generally being a pest while the sorcerer slung powerful spells and psychic attacks at the party, which had Siegmaer and Vishala paralyzed for the first few critical moments of the fight. Shockingly, Gronk's battle rage allowed him to resist much of the mental attacks flung at the party and enabled him to quickly break through to the sorcerer, giving the backline a chance to retaliate. Clair had Vishala unleash a fragment of his demon pact's full power, lending the demon full control over Vishala's body temporarily to augment both his physical and magical prowess, and began firing devastating shadowblasts to knock the homunculus and sorcerer off balance before pouncing on them to deliver some hefty physical blows as well. Siegmaer provided support, firing a rain of arrows to create a wall to limit the movement of their foes before shooting some silencing arrows to interrupt the sorcerer's future spellcasts. Despite the excellent team play to prevent the sorcerer from attacking, it was still a hard fought battle as they had to deal with various scripted attacks of the mage that couldn't be stopped-while it also started summoning minions which needed to be dealt with at the same time.

Eventually, the caster attempted a final torrent of psychic magic, consuming the homunculus at the start of the campaign to increase his power. As the rest of the party braced themselves for the attack, Gronk landed a clean blow to the sorcerer's forehead before the cast could complete, knocking him unconscious and ending the encounter with a candid victory and no casualties.

Clair had Vishala demand answers from the sorcerer when he came to, probing him over the source of his magic and whether or not he knew of a certain deity that took his family and friends. After the sorcerer claimed ignorance and begged for his life, Clair called upon the pact to absorb their life essence to feed the demon within, to the shock of Siegmaer and Gronk both. Well.. Gronk thought it was hot.

Thus, concluded the one shot campaign led by Griff. The party celebrated with a goofy high five as they began packing up their things.

"So, Clair, Trev, what'd you think? You think you'd be interested in doing a longer campaign?" Griff asked the two. Clair gave an awkward laugh but smiled genuinely.

"This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! But uh, I don't know if I have the brain power to commit to sessions that last more than even 2 weeks. I would definitely be down to do another one shot campaign like this sometime!" that cat responded earnestly with a grin. Trevor's response was a bit more lukewarm.

"The combat was pretty cool, but I was either or on the roleplaying. Not sure that I'd do it again, to be honest. I'm really glad y'all invited me to try though! Hope I wasn't too horny for ya~" he answered with a wink. Griff gave a warm smile.

"Well, I admit, I wasn't quite ready for that, but it's all in good fun. It's a dungeon master's job to try to have a backup plan for when their players want to go off the rails... and they will go off the rails." Reyson nodded sagely at this, remembering more than a few occasions in which he almost got his party killed because he really wanted some shiny, definitely not suspicious loot.

As they were cleaning up, Griff suddenly spoke up again.

"Oh, Reyson, before you go-there was something I wanted to give you, you mind coming with me for a sec?" Ray cocked his head to the side with his usual look of pondering, before nodding and following Griff over to his room. Once out of earshot of the others, Griff gave a small chuckle.

"...haha, actually, I called you here because I just wanted to catch up with you for a bit. I know it's kind of rude to the others, but there were a few things I wanted to tell you in person." The wolf's ears flicked in acknowledgement as he waited for his college buddy to continue.

"You look a lot happier now, Reyson. It's honestly... really awesome to see." The wolf's inquisitive face softened a bit, hearing his warm words. "I still remember the forlorn look you always had back in college. And I mean, you still look like that most of the time, but it's different now. There's an energy that wasn't there before." The bear gave a big smile. "Did you find what it was you were looking for?" Reyson smiled back-or, well a much more muted version of a smile-just a subtle smirk, really.

"..Yeah, I found something important to me." he responded-to which Griff just laughed.

"Haha, ever the man of few words and vague phrasing. But here, I did actually have something for you." He reached into a drawer in his room and pulled out a small box and handed it to the wolf. Reyson peered at it for a moment before opening it to reveal a set of beautiful amber dice. They shone with a pleasant glossy sheen and had swirls of subtle glitter and orange. Ray's eyes gleamed as he looked at them. The bear continued.

"I remember you never had your own set of dice when we played LnL, so I wanted to get you your own set if we ever played again, or even if you played with other people. I hope you enjoy this." Reyson stared at the dice for another before looking back at Griff with a rare full muzzle curled smile.

"Thank you, Griff-this is great. I love it."

After some more heart to heart and catching up, the two eventually went back to the living room where Clair and Trevor had already finished cleaning up and were waiting for them. Trevor chimed in first.

"What took you guys so long? Were you two making out~?" Reyson responded after a beat.

"...Maybe."

"Oh come on, not you too, Reyson!" The bear groaned before everyone else shared in a jubilant round of laughter. Griff couldn't help but join in.

Griff would regularly host LnL sessions once every 3 weeks to a month following this get together. To everyone's surprise, Trevor actually did join for two more sessions before quitting for good. Reyson regularly attended the sessions, and Clair made an appearance every once in a while, when he was feeling in a particularly role playing mood. Griff would pull his own LnL friends to join whenever there weren't enough people to make sure there were enough party members to make the sessions interesting.

Clair did take a note of the dice Ray got from the bear the night of the first play session. He admired it on the ride home and asked if he could have them. The wolf chuckled and replied: "absolutely not."

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Epilogue Chapter: Severance Pay

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"...Ching, Ching, Ching... buu buuuuuu~" The slot machine landed on a bad configuration that indicated no winnings. Reyson's father looked down at his credits... he was out. With a huff, he stood up and checked his pockets. The coins he had on hand totaled enough for two more spins. Surely one of those would hit the jackpot. He rushed over to the payout kiosk as he bumped into someone, spilling his coins all over the floor.

"Hey, what where you're go-you..." Reyson's father glared as he saw his son standing over him. The younger wolf held out a hand to help him up, but he swatted it away. Reyson continued anyway, indifferent to his father's indignity.

"Are you in debt again?"

"What's it to you?"

"How much?"

"Hell if I know, and it doesn't ma-"

"How much?" Reyson repeated, raising the volume of his cold voice. Some of the other patrons had stopped to see what the commotion was about, and soon a crowd had formed. The father, flustered at the eyes watching over him, frantically calculated the amount in his head.

"Uhh... <debt amount>. What, are you going to pay it off or something? I don't need your charity anymore, you've already left me twice." It wasn't a great sum of money, but it also wasn't something that his father would ever be able to pay off on his own with his current dead-end job and terrible gambling and drinking habits.

Reyson gazed at his father for a moment, before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a checkbook, scribbled something on it, and ripped it out, handing it to his father.

"This is three times that amount. Go pay off your debt, and quit your addictions. Then live your own life." His father growled at him menacingly.

"Grr, where do you think you're getting off, telling me what to-"

The weight of Reyson's palm was heavy as it swept across his father's face with a loud *Slap!*. His head remained slightly rotated for a moment, stunned. Gasps reverberated through the crowd as he put a hand to his face, with a slight amount of blood running down his cheek. Intentionally or not, Reyson's claw had just slightly pierced the flesh of the older wolf's face.

"I'm stronger than you, father." The older wolf looked at him and shut his mouth as murmurs spread across the crowd.

"Mom would be ashamed. I'm disappointed in you. I've been disappointed for years. I don't know where my dad went, but you're not him." As Reyson put his father on blast, his tone of voice remained even, as it always is. He continued.

"This is the last time I'm helping you, father. Honestly, you can do whatever you want with this money. Gamble it away if you'd like-It doesn't matter. But if you still love mom, you'll go get help."

"...I-"

"You aren't my dad anymore. I've waited for that person to return for years, but he never did. I'm done with wanting my family back."

His father simply gawked at him, speechless, as a confused crowd continued spreading rumors about the situation unfolding before their eyes. Reyson turned around.

"Well, that's it. I'm leaving. Take care of yourself, father." Reyson said as he began to leave-customers moving aside to make way for him-and the wolf shamelessly shoving those who wouldn't in a rare moment of unbridled aggression.

His father, now alone in the crowd, stared at the check in his hands. Turning it around, there was an additional message scrawled on the back, along with a phone number. The message read:

"When you decide to get help and recover, call me. Saying hi to my dad again would be nice."

---

Reyson opened the door to his apartment to receive a warm greeting from his partner, sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Ray. Did you do the thing?" Reyson looked down, fists clenched.

"Yeah... Yeah I did."

"How'd he take it?"

"I don't know. I left without checking."

"...Fair enough. You think he'll call you?"

"Who knows?"

"Yeah, you're right.. Are you okay?" Clair had already stood up and was standing in front of Reyson, looking him over with a quiet, reassuring smile. Reyson looked at him with a forlorn expression.

"...I want to cry." He said.

"What's stopping you?"

"...I don't know... I... don't know." Clair's expression loosened into a painfully empathetic frown as his friend rested his chin on the cat's shoulder. They pulled in for a gentle embrace as Clair massaged Reyson's back.

"There, there. You did great, Ray. I'm so proud of you."